Reigning county champs off and running

HOPEWELL VALLEY TRACK

By: John E. Powers
   The Hopewell Valley High School girls track team has opened its outdoor season showing just how balanced it is.
   The reigning Mercer County champions opened the season April 4 with a triangular meet sweep of West Windsor-Plainsboro North (88-52) and Hightstown (87.5-52.5), performed well in the rain at the annual Joe Wroblewski Track Invitational, then beat West Windsor-Plainsboro South 84-55 on Tuesday.
   The boys were beaten last week by Hightstown (80-60) and West Windsor-Plainsboro North (85-53) before dropping a 94-46 decision to powerful West Windsor-Plainsboro South on Tuesday.
   Both teams are off until the Mercer County Relays on April 22 at Steinert.
   The girls have shown their depth in getting off to a quick start. Junior Katie Kolombatovich, a guard on the Bulldogs’ basketball team, won the 400 hurdles in Tuesday’s dual meet in 1:06, placed second to freshman teammate Julie Alexander in the 200 meter dash at 27.4 and was second to senior teammate Miriam Khan in the 100 high hurdles at 16.6.
   Alexander won the 400 and 200 and was second to Khan in the 100. Khan won the 100 hurdles, placed second in the high jump and third in the long jump and senior Alison Fletcher won the shot and discus.
   "Kate really did a great job," head coach Aaron Oldfield said. "I would say having Julie, Miriam and Katie, they are interchangeable. The three of them complement each other so well. There are a lot of options with those three."
   Sophomore Danielle Amato was second in the shot put and discus to Fletcher.
   "We are a well balanced team," Oldfield said.
   The Bulldogs competed without senior throwing star Meredith Rutledge, who was on spring break.
   Rutledge won the javelin and discus in the triangular meet last week.
   Alexander won the 100 and 200 and junior Meagan Fitzpatrick won the 800, 1,600 and 3,200.
   Asked if it’s possible to ease up in the early going of the outdoor season after a significant indoor campaign, Oldfield said it wasn’t that easy.
   "We were missing people and it’s hard to ease up," he said. "We have the Penn Relays in two weeks, and we’re off until the 22nd, so it’s hard to ease up."
   Senior Paul Wagner won the shot put (49-2.25) and discus (141-9) in the meet with county indoor champion South, while junior Peter Novobilsky won the javelin with a 154-4 throw.
   Sophomore Matt Fishman cleared 10-6 to win the pole vault and junior Matt Hildebrandt was second in the 1,600.
   "Our boy’s team is very young; we only have a handful of seniors," Oldfield said. "They are going through some growing pains."
   The girls showed their potential during the rain of Saturday’s invitational meet.
   Alexander and freshman Katelyn Pagano dominated the 2×400 hurdles (2:23.3) by almost 14 seconds and won the freshman/sophomore race. Alexander and Pagano also won the 2×400-meter hurdles at 2:23.3 and sophomore Kelsey Smith, freshman Tricia Sherrard, Alexander and sophomore Marissa Greco won the freshman/sophomore sprint medley at 4:41.7.
   Sophomore Sarah Gustafson, Sherrard, Smith and Greco won the freshman/sophomore distance medley at 13:41.1.
   Sherrard, Pagano and Alexander also won the shuttle hurdles race. Senior Cathy Bigelow cleared 5-foot to win the open high jump.
   Wagner on the open shot put with a distance of 48-9.5 and freshmen Mark Kilstein and Chris Womack jumped a combined 32-10.5 to take the sophomore long jump.
   The meet didn’t have team scoring.
   "We had some people missing because it was the first day of vacation, but we did well," Oldfield said. "Our kids weren’t affected by the weather, they just rolled with it."